With 23 former London Knights left unprotected in the NHL expansion draft, you could technically fill out a roster featuring only former Knights. There are 12 available forwards, 10 defencemen and two goalies who played some or all of their junior careers in London.
Of course, doing it would violate an expansion draft rule that states Vegas must select one player from each team, so by the book such a move is actually impossible. Four of the players would have to come from the Blue Jackets’ organization and four from Ottawa.
If that rule didn’t exist, the lineup could look something like this:
Forwards
Josh Anderson…..Sam Gagner………….Seth Griffith
Gemel Smith……..Greg McKegg………..Phil Varone
Austin Watson…..Christian Thomas….Ivan Khomutov
Ryan Rupert……..Chris Kelly…………….Zac Rinaldo
Defencemen
Marc Methot………..Michael Del Zotto
Kyle Quincey………..Scott Harrington
Brady Austin………..Dennis Wideman
Goalies
Steve Mason
Michael Hutchinson
Scratches
Jarred Tinordi, Tommy Hughes, Reid McNeill
Hughes and McNeill are both Londoners as well. McKegg is from St. Thomas and Rupert is from Grand Bend — and the area connections don’t end there.
Matt Hackett (Ana) — London
Dylan DeMelo (SJ) — London
Joe Thornton (SJ) — St. Thomas
Matt Read (Phi) — Ilderton
Brian Campbell (Chi) — Strathroy
The Vegas Golden Knights’ Director of Hockey Operations, Misha Donskov, used to work for the London Knights as well.
Vegas has until June 20 to make their selections. Their post-expansion draft roster will be unveiled on June 21 at the NHL Awards, which will take place at the Golden Knights’ T-Mobile Arena.
Comments